


i'm going down follow if you wanna

by ShyAudacity



Series: Riverdale Prompt Fills [19]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Bisexual Archie Andrews, Bullying, But not in a good way, Comforting Jughead, Coming Out, Crying, Demisexual Jughead Jones, Emotional Hurt, Homophobic Language, How Do I Tag, Hurt/Comfort, I thought this would be longer, Kevin is a Good Friend, Love Letters, M/M, Out of Character Betty, Out of Character Veronica, Reggie is a Bad Dude
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-31
Updated: 2018-01-31
Packaged: 2019-03-12 00:34:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13535898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShyAudacity/pseuds/ShyAudacity
Summary: Archie doesn’t have time to speak up and stop him before Reggie is reading the letter out loud.“Hey, handsome. I’ve been thinking about you all day…” He trails off, glares at Archie. “What the hell is this? You gotta a boyfriend or something Andrews?”Archie’s face goes pale, he thinks he’s going to be sick to his stomach. He tries to speak up but his mouth is impossibly dry all of the sudden.“I gotta say, Arch,” Reggie sneers, passing the letter to Moose. “I never had you pegged for a fairy.”Archie flinches a little at the slur, pressing himself against the back of his seat.ORboyofscissors said: I’d a like a sweet/kind of sad jarchie fic if you don’t mind.Archie is outed at school and it doesn’t go well.





	i'm going down follow if you wanna

**Author's Note:**

  * For [boyofscissors](https://archiveofourown.org/users/boyofscissors/gifts).



> It was hard writing Reggie's dialogue tbh. 
> 
> Unbeta'd and title from Uncharted by Sara Bareilles.

Archie is in the library pretending to study for the history exam that he has later this week. In actuality, he’s writing a letter to Jughead. It’s his last night at the Andrews house before he has to go stay with a foster family, and Archie just wants to do something nice for him. Jughead isn’t there today; he’d opted ditch school and visit his dad instead, said that he had some business and other things to take care of.

_I love your smile, I love that you smile at me more than anyone else. I love that you talk in your sleep even if it doesn’t make any sense half of the time. I love that you know me more than anyone. Having you around is the best thing that’s ever happened to me, I hope you know that._

He’s in the middle of a sentence when Reggie and Moose walk over; Reggie claps Archie on the shoulder.

“What d’ya got there, Andrews?” He asks.

Startled, Archie tries to cover the paper with his hand.

“It’s uh- nothing, just English homework.”

“Yeah right,” Reggie says, smirking at him. He snatches the paper away before Archie can stop him.

“Reg, don’t-.”

“What? You afraid I’m gonna copy your homework or some shit?”

Archie doesn’t have time to speak up and stop him before Reggie is reading the letter out loud. 

“Hey, handsome. I’ve been thinking about you all day…” He trails off, glares at Archie. “What the hell is this? You gotta a boyfriend or something Andrews?”

Archie’s face goes pale, he thinks he’s going to be sick to his stomach. He tries to speak up but his mouth is impossibly dry all of the sudden.

“I gotta say, Arch,” Reggie sneers, passing the letter to Moose. “I never had you pegged for a _fairy_.”

Archie flinches a little at the slur, pressing himself against the back of his seat.

“So, who is it, huh? Who’s this little boyfriend of yours? Keller? Some other closeted twink who goes to this school? C’mon, tell me.”

Archie feels his throat close up. He spares a glance at Moose who simply avert his eyes, looking almost ashamed.

He’s not gonna out Jughead, he’s not going to hurt him like that, he _can’t_. He’d never be able to forgive himself. Archie shakes his head, refusing to answer the question.

“No?” Reggie says, cocking his head to the side. “Well then, I guess you leave me no choice, Andrews.”

Archie feels a chill run down his spine at the sight of the cynical look on Reggie’s face.

“Hey, everyone!” He yells across the room. “I have an announcement to make! It turns out that our friend Archie here is a fag! He’s gay, got a boyfriend and everything. That’s right, you heard it here first folks: Riverdale’s resident Golden Boy, star athlete likes boys! Isn’t it such a shame when the people we praise don’t turn about to be who we thought they were?”

The whispers begin as soon as he finishes speaking; Reggie turns back to Archie, looking him right in the eye.

“See ya around, _faggot_.” He spits out, walking away with Moose in tow.

The panic that’s coursing through his body is unlike anything that he’s ever felt before. Archie doesn’t have to look around to know that people are staring at him. Not knowing what else to do, he spends the rest of free period with his nose buried in his history, trying not to fall apart.

The rest of the day only gets worse after that. He eats alone at lunch after hearing Veronica make some snide comment about why he broke up with her.

“I can’t believe that I was dating a gay dude,” She had said. “At least that explains why he broke up with me.”

“It also explains why he didn’t have feelings for me.” Betty chimed in. “I hate to say it, but I’m kind of jealous of whoever he’s dating.”

It makes Archie feel sick, all of it. He wishes for a moment that Jughead was there, then realizes that would only make things worse. He wants so badly for this whole day to be over with already, to try and put it behind him. He spends most of his sixth period acting like he can’t hear Reggie making crude remarks under his breath. The icing on the cake of his shit-tastic day happens after the bell rings, when Bethany from his French class pulls him aside in the hallway.

“Don’t worry, Archie,” she says. “I know that God will forgive you. All you have to do is let him into your heart, then he’ll show you the _proper_ way. I’ll be praying for you.”

Archie had half a mind to scream at her as he watched her and her blonde ponytail walk away from him. Instead, he high tails it out of the building, pushing his way through the crowd of students and keeping his head down the entire walk home.

He sighs heavily once he’s inside the safety of his own house, letting his head thump against the front door. After hearing a familiar clicking sound, he looks up and realizes that Jughead is waiting for him in the kitchen, typing away at his computer.

Jughead looks over upon hearing Archie come in, giving him a smug grin.

“Hey, pretty boy,” he says. “Anything interesting happen at school today?”

That’s it, that’s what finally breaks him after the beyond horrible day that he’s had. His chin trembles, his chest starts heaving and before he can stop it Archie is full out crying, shaky sobs leaving his mouth. Jughead gets to his feet as soon he realizes something is wrong. He crumples, sagging into Jughead’s grip, bringing both of them to the floor.

“Hey, hey what’s wrong? What happened? Talk to me, Arch. How can I help?”

 _You can’t,_ Archie thinks to himself. _You can’t help, you can’t fix this. Everything is ruined. I don’t know what to do now._

Unable to make words in his current state, Archie shakes his head and Jughead _god bless him_ doesn’t ask, he just holds Archie tighter. He stays there, half way curled up on the floor and half way being held up by Jughead, crying until he can’t anymore.

He doesn’t remember going upstairs or falling asleep for that matter, but he wakes up a few hours later in his bed, lying in Jughead’s lap. It only takes a minute for him to remember everything that had gone on earlier in the day; he can’t stop himself from wincing as he thinks about it.

Jughead’s hand starts moving through Archie’s hair once he realizes that Archie is awake.

“Hey,” He says, softly. “It’s a little after five, and your dad is downstairs. He says he’s ready to talk if you need it. Okay?”

Archie rolls off of his lap instead of giving him an answer; he covers his eyes with his arm, unable to look Jughead in the eye.

“Everyone knows, Juggie.” He whispers.

“I know, Cheryl texted me not too long after you fell asleep, said that you “burst” out of the closet during free period. I knew that didn’t sound like something you would do, so figured that’s why you were upset when you came home… Do you wanna talk about it?”

Archie is quiet for a long moment, trying to decide how to go about this. He doesn’t want to tell Jughead about the letter, not yet at least.

“It was such a mess, Jughead.” He states. “Everything started happening at once and it was like I was powerless, I couldn’t even stop it… Then Reggie called me a faggot.”

“I kill him.” Jughead bites out

“I thought that we were friends. I thought that I could trust him, you know? Then Reggie goes and outs me in front of everyone, and the way he was looking at me- it was like he enjoyed hurting me. It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. It was supposed to be my call.”   

Archie moves his arm so that he can look over at Jughead; the sympathetic look that Jughead is giving him does little to make him feel better, but it helps nonetheless. He's just grateful that Jughead is here in the first place.

“Are you sure that you really have to go stay with a foster family?” He mutters, reaching for Jughead’s arm. “Can’t you just- _stay here_ a little longer.”

Jughead laughs a little, leaning over to kiss Archie on the forehead. He moves his hand through Archie’s hair again, looking him in the eye.

“I’m sorry that I can’t stay at school and help with this- I really am, but I know that you’re going to figure this out. I promise.”

It’s not what Archie had wanted him to say, but in some sense, it’s what he needed to hear.

***

The next day isn’t much better. People are still looking at him funny when he walks by in the halls, and some of the football players have taken it upon themselves to make kissing noises at him. As much as he wants to, Archie doesn’t retaliate- he knows that getting into a fight with these goons is only going to make the situation worse.

He ditches the last five minutes of class at the end of the day to try and avoid getting spotted by anyone. He makes a beeline for the door only to get stopped by Kevin.

“Hey, Archie- wait!”

“What do you want, Kev?” He asks, growing defensive.

“I just wanted to see how you were doing, Moose told me about what happened yesterday.”

“Did he also tell you how he just stood there and let Reggie _force me_ out of the closet?”

“Yeah, he did, and Moose feels really bad about it. Look, I’m really sorry that it happened, but need I remind you that you’re not the only one at this school who had their sexuality made public before they were ready to tell anyone.”

Archie feels bad after remembering what he’s talking about. Right before the of their freshmen year, someone had caught Kevin texting a boy during class, talking about all the suggestive things that Kevin wanted to do with him. The whole school was talking about it for weeks, some people still taunt him about it.

“Sorry, I forgot that you-.”

“It’s fine,” Kevin assures him. “I’m over it. For the record, I’m here to listen if you ever wanna talk about it, and you don’t owe anyone an explanation about who you are. Despite what happened yesterday, they can’t take this away from you.”

It doesn’t make Archie feel any better, but he appreciates it.

“Thanks, Kevin.”

“Don’t mention it, now get out of here before Reggie or someone else sees you, alright?”

Archie nods, leaving finally. He feels grateful to have Kevin in his corner, to have someone to understands exactly what he’s going through.

When he gets home, Jughead is there again, and he gets a warm feeling in his chest just looking at him. This time, Archie kisses him square on the mouth instead of crying. Jughead pulls away after a second, giving Archie a questioning look.

“Was today any better than yesterday?”

Archie smiles, “Yeah, yeah it was… I think things are looking up.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Coming out before you're ready sucks BIG TIME.
> 
> Thanks for reading! Leave a kudos or a comment if you liked it. Please, please please tell me if I missed any tags, I'll make sure to add them. If you have a prompt, you can leave it here or at my Riverdale blog (archieandrewsprotectionsquad). Thanks again for reading, have a great day!


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